WASHINGTON, DC – Armenian National Committee of America (ANCA) Executive Director Aram Hamparian shared the lessons learned by Armenian Americans over the course of more than a century of community organizing and civic advocacy, during a recent robust, roundtable discussion for Diaspora leaders held at the State Department Global Diaspora Forum.

The panel, titled “Grooming Next Generation Leadership,” was moderated by Semhar Araia, America’s leading voice on the vital role that women of the African diaspora play in supporting Africa’s development and in shaping U.S. policy toward the continent. Sophia Lafontant, Senior Alliance Advisor at Oxfam America, was, along with Hamparian, a featured speaker, bringing to the discussion her extensive development experience and her far-ranging and effective diaspora outreach to Haitian Americans and other communities. The discussion drew on the speakers’ success stories and lessons learned in developing paths forward for engagement in their Diaspora communities, with a special focus on finding the best ways to effectively leverage creativity, dynamism, and energy, particularly at the university and young professional levels.

The International Diaspora Engagement Alliance was launched in 2011 as a non-partisan, non-profit organization managed via a public-private partnership between the U.S. Department of State, the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID), and the Migration Policy Institute (MPI). To learn more, visit: http://diasporaalliance.org

Following the Forum, the ANCA tweeted notes of thanks to the organizers @DiasporaIdea, @USAID and @StateDept using the program’s hashtag #2013GDF, and also tweeted a more general message about a common misunderstanding about civic advocacy by Americans who identify with the ethnic heritage: “Diasporan Americans often unfairly accused of moving US foreign policy left or right, when all we’re asking is that we raise our sights.”

Photo: Materials from the State Department Global Diaspora Forum